Monthly Archives: April 2015

One week after the Hannover Messe, the world’s leading trade fair for industrial technology, we’re looking back at five exciting days.

This year over 220,000 trade visitors, including 70,000 from outside of Germany, came to visit the show to learn about the latest technologies and make key investment decisions.

A great deal of hard work went into the biggest Trelleborg Sealing Solutions stand we’ve used to date, giving us the space to deliver a memorable experience to new and existing customers. In a casual and professional atmosphere, old contacts were refreshed and new leads were generated.

On the stand
Focus was on the ‘Expert bar’ where our sealing experts and research and development teams were on standby and ready to show, tell and share their knowledge with engineers and decision makers. Through this, we met a large number of people and had many interesting discussions regarding business expertise and design studies.

Various interactive exhibits supported the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions experience with sealing principles and methods demonstrated hands on. A series of lectures on various sealing topics were presented in both German and English.

The latest edition of in the groove, the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions magazine aimed at engineers, is now available. The online version is fully interactive and printed copies can be ordered from your local Trelleborg Sealing Solutions marketing company.

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions is at the forefront of mobile app development related to sealing solutions. Boasting over 1.2 million downloads over its range of apps, it proves that mobile apps have real benefits to engineers when specifying or using seals. They contribute to making their working lives easier and are becoming fundamental to the more rapid development of innovative solutions for customers.

The mobile landscape is one characterized by unprecedented growth and innovation. In March this year, Apple launched its first smartwatch, the next step for an industry that is seeing over one billion smartphones sold each year. Forrester Research predicts that 42% of the total population globally will own a smartphone by the end of 2015 and during 2014 it said that more time was spent on mobile apps than on the web.

Robert Zahiri, Director Global Marketing and Communications at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, says: “There is virtually no research available on the trends relating to usage of apps in industrial applications but we know this is an important area for app development. We tend to associate mobile apps with playing online games or keeping in touch on social media channels. At Trelleborg though, we believe there is a much more serious side to them and that mobile apps can actually make an engineer’s working life easier, especially for those that are regularly on the move and working away from their desks.

“We took a decision about five years ago to invest heavily in mobile app development. That meant employing experts in app technology to decide how best to utilize our over 60 years of sealing expertise in this new medium.”

Hydraulic Cylinder Design Calculator
From cylinder dimensions and parameters like pressure and oil flow, the app calculates the areas and volumes in the cylinder, extraction & retraction forces, velocity, time, outflow and ratio for both piston and rod side.

Groove Selector: Aerospace
Finds the size of grooves and hardware for dynamic and static seals for two of the most important SAE aerospace groove standards for hydraulic systems; AS4716 Rev B and AS5857 Rev A.

Installation Instructions
The app demonstrates the correct installation techniques for a range of seals and features a combination of film, animation and supporting documentation.

ISO Fits and Tolerance
Based on the nominal diameter of a seal, the app provides the complete ISO fits definition with all relevant values including the type of fit.

O-Ring Selector
The app calculates O-Ring and housing dimensions from installation specifications such as the bore or rod/shaft diameter and recommends O-Ring sizes according to ISO 3601.

Trelleborg has, through its business area Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, utilized an option from 2011 to acquire the outstanding 50 percent of the shares in Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Silcotech Bulgaria OOD, with a production unit in Pernik, Bulgaria.

Its main focus is the production of precision molded seals in liquid silicone rubber (LSR) for various industries including baby care and food processing. The transaction is part of Trelleborg’s strategy to strengthen its positions in attractive market segments.

Since the acquisition of Silcotech Group in 2011 Trelleborg has made several investments in its life sciences operations, among others in an expanded production capacity in Switzerland and an establishment of a new full-scale production unit in the U.S.

The business was already fully consolidated. A press release regarding the acquisition in its entirety was published on March 28, 2011.

In January 2015, oil prices plummeted to an all-time low of $46 over the past five-and-a-half years*. This drop triggered the industry to quickly re-evaluate its processes and budgets, redirecting its primary focus to cutting costs, adding value and increasing efficiency.

Trelleborg continually monitors industry trends and according to its market analysis, similar trends in oil prices occur approximately every five to seven years. Based on involvement in past projects when oil prices have been low, Trelleborg emphasizes that it is better to consider reducing total cost and improving efficiency than buying low-cost and potentially poorer quality product.

Fredrik Meuller, BA President Trelleborg Offshore & Construction, says: “The natural reaction when the barrel price falls is for operators to cut costs wherever possible. However, given the cyclical nature of the marketplace, it is vital that operators save in the right areas and resist the temptation to simply buy cheap. It remains important to invest in solutions which will continuously deliver high performance over a long lifecycle, to protect projects in the long term, even in tough times.”

Offshore Technology Conference
In light of these challenges, events like the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) are central to sharing knowledge. At this year’s show, Trelleborg’s on-stand experts will demonstrate just some of the innovative key solutions which can help operators’ bridge the gap between cost and performance. Looking ahead to May, Trelleborg will also highlight some of the ways in which the market can lower project costs, optimize productivity and retain competitiveness as barrel prices recover. Visit stand 5541 for demonstrations and further discussion.

Mark Angus, Executive Vice President Drilling and Syntactic Products within Trelleborg’s offshore operation, says: “As drilling goes to deeper water, stresses placed on a rig’s hoisting system become greater, increasing risk of damage or failure to the drill pipe or hoist. Landing Strings Solutions LLC approached us with its patented technology to develop the world’s first buoyancy module system deployed on a drill pipe landing string.

Increasing financial savings
“Working at or near design working load presents significant safety and environmental concerns. However, this system is designed to offset the landing string weight by up to 80% in some cases. By reducing the overall hook load, the mechanical stresses are lessened and the rig’s load landing capabilities are increased. In addition to reducing risk, this means that smaller inexpensive rigs may be used, resulting in significant financial savings.”

Downtime caused by failure or maintenance often yields a considerable cost that can be avoided. Henk-Willem Sanders, FPSO Focus Group Leader at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions says: “Our innovative SealWelding™ technology allows seals to be welded in-situ on an FPSO platform, eliminating the need for the platform to disconnect and return to shore. Facilities will no longer need to shut down operations for weeks at a time, causing significant loss of earnings from production. Solutions such as ours not only add value, but save a significant amount of time and naturally, costs too.”

Topsides and floatover operations
While drilling offshore spans to new, far-off locations, conventional means for installing offshore oil rigs are cost-prohibitive. Julian Wee, Managing Director within Trelleborg’s engineered products operation, says: “With topsides now often weighing more than 30,000 tons, floatover operations are a cost-effective alternative to conventional installation methods. However, installation windows are small and the mating process between the topside and the jacket legs must be controlled and executed precisely, to avoid damage and downtime.

“During the topside lowering process, the barge may undergo significant heave and other motions due to wave and current actions. Our leg mating units (LMUs) and deck support units (DSUs) are designed to take shock impacts. This is one of the ways our solutions prevent damage during floatover. We also test our LMUs to the actual specified loads in order to confidently validate design requirements.”

Liquid Natural Gas
There is a growth in the Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) market to lower storage and transportation costs as it takes up 1/600th the volume of natural gas. However it is more difficult to handle, stimulating the need for safe economic offloading methods.

Vincent Lagarrigue, Marketing and Proposal Manager within Trelleborg’s oil and marine hoses operation, says: “There was an absence of offloading solutions in the market, so we teamed up with Saipem to design a cryogenic floating hose. It can operate in sea states with wave heights of up to three and half meters at connection and four meters during transfer and disconnection – even with non collinear wind or current directions. Our design enables transfer between the LNGC and FLNG terminal to be increased from a standard five meters to 150-250 meters, significantly limiting the risk of collision.”

Trelleborg will exhibit its range of innovative offshore solutions at OTC Houston 2015 in hall A at stand 5541. Products are designed with quality, performance and efficiency front of mind and include high performance pipeline protection and insulation, buoyancy, floatover technology, seals and hoses.